WCSD Overdue Lunch Accounts
Tax deductible
It isn't news that the Washoe County School District is facing a $40 million budget deficit. However, an article from the RGJ written this morning by Siobhan McAndrew shed light on a policy that will be discussed at Tuesday's school board meeting regarding a drop in our bucket of debt. They are proposing an alternative meal for students with overdue balances to purchase. It consists of a cheese sandwich, milk, and a fruit or vegetable.
In the article, Cheif Operations Officer Pete Etchart mentioned that alternative meals are the "standard in the industry." He is able to draw on other situations as a standard as this is a national crisis and in no way unique to our situation. Another article posted this morning states that 76% of US School Districts have students with unpaid lunch debt.
Because of this, we have experiences we can draw on that shows this alternative meal is, in fact, a form of lunch shaming, despite Etchart's claim the district would not do any lunch shaming. As a parent, former educator and community member of Washoe County, I cannot sit by and let this happen in good conscience. The children in our community deserve better.
In the comment section of the RGJ article, it was brought up that the parents of these children should apply for the free-reduced meals. The article should have mentioned that the children on the reduced-price plan are often struggling to come up with their co-pay, a fraction of the original $1.75-$2.85 per meal. How are these children, who have a difficult time coming up with cents, going to afford the $1 for the alternative meal?
Etchart was right that there is no simple solution to this problem. By paying off the lunch debt of the kids in our community, we're not solving the problem at large. We are, however, attempting to help children in our area avoid being lunch shamed. With around 500 thousand people in our county, imagine if 66 thousand people could give $1. This may be futile, but it's the only idea I can come up with at the moment. Please, will you help me help them? All contributions will be given to the Washoe County School District with the sole purpose of paying off student school-lunch debt.
In the article, Cheif Operations Officer Pete Etchart mentioned that alternative meals are the "standard in the industry." He is able to draw on other situations as a standard as this is a national crisis and in no way unique to our situation. Another article posted this morning states that 76% of US School Districts have students with unpaid lunch debt.
Because of this, we have experiences we can draw on that shows this alternative meal is, in fact, a form of lunch shaming, despite Etchart's claim the district would not do any lunch shaming. As a parent, former educator and community member of Washoe County, I cannot sit by and let this happen in good conscience. The children in our community deserve better.
In the comment section of the RGJ article, it was brought up that the parents of these children should apply for the free-reduced meals. The article should have mentioned that the children on the reduced-price plan are often struggling to come up with their co-pay, a fraction of the original $1.75-$2.85 per meal. How are these children, who have a difficult time coming up with cents, going to afford the $1 for the alternative meal?
Etchart was right that there is no simple solution to this problem. By paying off the lunch debt of the kids in our community, we're not solving the problem at large. We are, however, attempting to help children in our area avoid being lunch shamed. With around 500 thousand people in our county, imagine if 66 thousand people could give $1. This may be futile, but it's the only idea I can come up with at the moment. Please, will you help me help them? All contributions will be given to the Washoe County School District with the sole purpose of paying off student school-lunch debt.
Organizer
Kyle Rodriguez
Organizer
Sparks, NV
Alice Maxwell Elementary School
Beneficiary